KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (MED), through its agency SME Corporation Malaysia, will organise a dialogue session between its minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof and the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on Jan 21.

This would be a platform to gather feedback and comments on the country’s SME development programmes, MED said in a statement today.

The ministry reiterated its commitment, as well as its agencies’ commitment to facilitate and assist in the growth of SME entrepreneurs either directly or indirectly.

"The SMEs are now on a solid footing to further progress, and the year 2020 is expected to provide SMEs with the best opportunities to improve their performance,” it said.

Based on the projections announced in the budget 2020, the Malaysian economy is forecast to grow 4.8 per cent this year from an estimated 4.7 per cent in 2019.

"The SMEs are expected to profit from the 2020 Budget allocation of RM13.1 billion aimed at bolstering the economic growth and benefiting businesses and entrepreneurs,” the ministry said.

The government will also prioritise products made by the Malaysian SMEs in its procurement in conjunction with the country’s year-long Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2020 programme.

"From a larger perspective, SMEs need to fully reap the benefit of digitalisation and latest technologies that could enable transformation of business processes to be implemented more effectively,” it said. — Bernama